Featured Artist: Oil Recordings

A collective of LA beatmakers unwinds for 2014

Oil Recordings may not be a household name yet, but I’m banking that it will become one in the coming months. Since the beginning of the decade, this versatile group of underground beatmakers and artists from the heart of Los Angeles has taken many progressive steps toward releasing substantial material to showcase what their roster has to offer, and their keen eye for outstanding production, quality beats, and surreal visuals has not only paid off, but it has also made them ones to look out for in 2014 and likely beyond.

The label is making one of their first releases with Chakradio, a 43-minute trip of jazzy, progressive production and meditative beats, out for free as a digital download on February 4th from the Oil Recording’s website. It features an array of Oil Recordings artists, such as jazz/electronic duo Chav and DJ/beatmaker Rasson Arigato, whose previous IDM and remix tracks have proven to be quite successful on the interwebs.

Chakradio, as its name implies, interweaves ethereal, meditative instrumentals with trip-hop tendencies, aligning them with thick basslines, juicy beats, and Dilla-inspired samples in equal measure to produce quite a remarkable experiment. The slow burners, such as “Iridescence” and “Shedding,” are just as contemplative as the more immediate tracks, including “Tiva and Terr” and “Radiator,” and the folks at Oil Recordings have created an excellent tracklist to keep the moods in balance.

If this is one of their first releases, then I can only see great things happening for Oil Recordings in the near future. Considering their moniker means “Our Infinite Love,” I expect whatever’s next on their schedule to be just as focused and precise.

Chakradio will be available on February 4th on Oil Recordings. To get you prepared, listen to 30-second samples of each track below, and be sure to sign up for the Oil Recordings newsletter for additional information on this and future releases.